Tuesday, November 3, 2015

QPLHIV(Queer People Living with HIV) Meet - Nov 2015

A write up about the QPLHIV meet that happened recently in the eve of Bangalore Pride month from a participant:

This is a follow up meet of a group that has been formed after the first
meeting during November 2014. A few of us, hiv positive individuals who
have been in touch with each other through watsapp group since last
November's first meeting, decided to meet during this pride too. We have
been advertising about this meet through Bangalore Pride and Goodasyou groups since a month, along with a registration form
so that any new positive individuals can join us. We have created a new
email id blrqueerpozhelp@gmail.com so that people can reach us/email
with queries even if they do not wish to meet us directly.

After much deliberation, we decided to meet at a central location of
Bangalore. A few people have come from Mysore, Chennai and other near by
towns to make it to the meeting. There has been a total of 12 people,
all queer men. Barring a few of us who met each other before, most of us
were meeting each other for the first time. Some of us were very
anxious in meeting new people directly. Although there were many more
registrations and more people agreed to come, finally only 12 of us had
crossed that barrier and could make it to here.

The class diversity was very evident. Some of us are from moderately
educated, upper class background and some weren't. Some of us were out
about our sexuality and could call ourselves Gay/Bi or with other
labels, some weren't open about such identifications. A few were not
even interested in any serious discussions and mainly wanted to see/date
others. But as the discussion and conversations progressed, people
started becoming comfortable and opened up.

Mainly we have exchanged our knowledge about HIV, ART and health tips.
It was a bit shocking to see that many people did not know they must use
protection even if two hiv positive people are having sex with each
other, for the simple reason, that each person may have a different type
of HIV or virul load or presence of other STDs or the body resistance.
We have learnt that while some of us are taking free ART medicine from
Govt ART centers like St.Johns Hosptial, Koramanagala and Victoria
Hospital, some of us preferred to pay for it and take from private
hospitals such as Fortis Hospital. A few are yet to start ART since they
are still deliberating whether to start ART, given their CD4 count is
quite good and they are advised by some doctors to wait and watch.

Apart from the exchange of health tips, what's more valuable is the
happiness in some faces in getting to know other people, the sense of
belonging in a support group, the sense of gaining new confidence. Along
with group discussions, we did spend some time in conversations with
individuals and in smaller groups, depending on our interest level of each of us.

After 1.5-2 hours, we had finished the meeting, with a group meditation
session, proposed by one of the participant. The outstation people had
to catch trains back, so we had to wind up fast, after having lunch.

Hope this support group survives and will become more helpful to many more through future get-togethers and other events.